Striker seals win but Sunderland enjoy the night’s biggest upset
Steve Bruce said he would take the cup competitions seriously, that this would be the exciting shift in approach he would bring as Newcastle United manager, but this was an all too familiar and depressingly early exit for the club.
Newcastle actually lasted longer in the competition than they normally do but it was by minutes rather than days as they lost on penalties to an almost full-strength Leicester City side.
It also came at a cost as Bruce lost another three players to injury – including Matt Ritchie, who was forced off by what he called a “horror tackle” from Leicester midfielder Hamza Choudhury.
“His leg is a mess, he has cuts in three places and ankle damage,” he said. “You don’t like to see players sent off but when you lunge in and are over the top, it can damage people. Believe me, it’s a horrible one.”
Bruce had stopped short of saying he would prioritise the cups – what manager of a club threatened by relegation can ever claim that – but in making seven changes to the side that beat Tottenham Hotspur, he inevitably left himself open to criticism when the team sheets arrived.
In the end, his side played reasonably well, Yoshinori Muto’s second-half goal cancelling out James Maddison’s deflected free-kick. Yet they lost in the second round of the Carabao Cup for the third year in a row as Kasper Schmeichel saved the penalties of both Jonjo Shelvey and Isaac Hayden. Newcastle have not played more than two games in this competition in 11 out of the last 14 seasons.
“I was forced to make five or six changes [because of injuries] and we have lost three tonight,” Bruce said. “We just have to get on with it and I’m pleased with how we went about things, particularly in the second half. There was nothing in the game.”
Newcastle started well, springing forward whenever they could, but their lack of cutting edge – Bruce had only one fit striker to put in the team – is a concern.
Some of the football was promising but the end product was unsatisfactory and Leicester took the lead when Maddison’s free-kick flicked off the head of Ritchie, leaving goalkeeper Karl Darlow completely wrong-footed.
Newcastle were not playing badly but they needed some creativity and found it from a set-piece of their own. Fabian Schar’s quickly taken free-kick caught Ricardo Pereira napping and Jetro Willems did well, taking the high ball down, on the run, on his chest. He may well have been fouled as Pereira tried to recover ground but the ball broke kindly for Muto to tap in from close range.
Leicester might have won it through Ayoze Perez but he was thwarted by former team-mate Darlow, while at the other end a thunderous strike by Shelvey was kept out by the fingertips of Schmeichel.
Things fizzled out after that, the game played at a pre-season pace as both sides seemed content enough to decide things with penalties.
“I think our team selection showed this is a competition we want to take seriously,” Leicester assistant manager Chris Davies said.